Sin Against A Fellow Believer - Part V
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“But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.” —Leviticus 6:28-30
The Personal Holiness Of Christ
The personal holiness of Christ was more strikingly presented in the sin offering than in any of the other sacrifices. The Holy Spirit through Moses said, “It is most holy.” He even went so far as to say, “Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy … All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy” (Lev. 6:27, 29).
This was said of the meat offering, sin offering, and the trespass offering.
Concerning this, Mackintosh said: “This is most marked and striking. The Holy Spirit did not need to guard with such jealousy the personal holiness of Christ in the burnt offering; but lest the soul should, by any means, lose sight of that holiness while contemplating the place which the Blessed One became the sin offering, we are again and again reminded of it by the words, ‘It is most holy.’”
Mackintosh went on to say: “The same point is observable ‘in the Law of the trespass offering’ (Lev. 7:1–6). Never was the Lord Jesus more fully seen to be ‘the Holy One of God’ than when He was ‘made sin’ upon the cursed tree. The vileness and blackness of that with which He stood identified on the Cross, only served to show out more clearly that He was ‘most holy.’ Though a sin-bearer, He was sinless; though enduring the wrath of God, He was the Father’s delight; though deprived of the light of God’s countenance, He dwelt in the Father’s bosom.”
As should be obvious, this completely shoots down the erroneous theory of the Jesus died spiritually doctrine. This is taught by those of the Word of Faith group, which, in effect, states that Jesus became one with Satan on the Cross, died as a sinner, and went to the burning side of hell, where He was tortured for three days and nights, until God said, “It is enough.” At that time, they continue to say, Jesus was born again, as any sinner must be born again in order to be saved. He was then resurrected from the dead.
Consequently, their faith is not in what He did at the Cross, but rather of what He did, they claim, in the burning side of hell.
There is not one shred of this in the Bible. It is pure fiction from beginning to end. Also, the law of the sin offering, and that it was most holy in the eyes of the Lord, completely debunks the idea of Jesus dying spiritually on the Cross.
The Old Testament
Once again, we go back to the fact that many of these erroneous doctrines are perpetrated on false ideas simply because the person doing the perpetrating doesn’t know and understand the Old Testament or the veracity of the Cross of Christ. This is at least one of the many reasons that the book of Leviticus is of such significance. In the five sacrifices presented, it beautifully portrays the one sacrifice of Christ, thereby, giving us its vast significance, at least as far as we can understand such. The truth is, as human beings, we will never be able to fully comprehend and understand all that Christ did for us at the Cross. He not only addressed the human need, but, as well, He addressed what Satan did in his revolution against God, which originated sin (Eph. 1:10).
The Scripture is emphatic that, “In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy” (Lev. 6:25).
As we have stated, the burnt offering stipulated Jesus Christ offering to God His total perfection, and doing so in sacrifice that the righteousness of God might be satisfied. There had to be a perfect victim who would give up his life, and that perfect victim was Christ because that perfect victim could only be Christ. No one else could fit the bill, so to speak!
In the sin offering, Christ would be the sin-bearer of the whole world, but in this, He would be looked at by God as even holier than in the representation of the burnt offering.
Holy
“The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, you shall wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place” (Lev. 6:26-27).
God gave the sin offering as food for the priests to bear the iniquity of the congregation and to make atonement for them (Lev. 10:17). Once again, we go back to John, Chapter 6, in the eating of the flesh and the drinking of the blood regarding Christ.
The flesh provided by the sin offering constituted a part of the livelihood of the priests as it constitutes our spiritual livelihood presently (Ezek. 44:28–29). The officiating priest to whom fell this obligation could invite not only his family but other priests and their sons to partake of it. Covetous priests abused this gift (Hos. 4:8).
It was to be eaten in the Holy Place of the sanctuary. In fact, eight of the offerings (there were others besides the blood sacrifices) had to be eaten in the precincts of the sanctuary:
- The flesh of the sin offering (Lev. 4:26).
- The flesh of the trespass offering (Lev. 7:6).
- The peace offering of the congregation (Lev. 23:19–20).
- The remainder of the omer (Lev. 23:10–11).
- The meat offering of the Israelites (Lev. 2:3–10).
- The two loaves (Lev. 23:20).
- The shewbread (Lev. 24:9).
- The leper’s log of oil (Lev. 14:10–13).
The Blood
So peculiarly sacred was the sin offering that when any of its blood chanced to spurt upon the garment of the officiating priest or the one who brought the sacrifice, the spot that received the stain had to be washed in the room of the court provided for this purpose. Therein was a well that supplied the water for the sanctuary, thus preventing the blood from being profaned outside the Holy Place.
This proclaims to us the preciousness of the blood.
It was to be handled in two ways:
- If it pertained to the priest who had sinned or the nation as a whole, some of the blood of the sacrifice was to be sprinkled seven times on the golden altar, with blood then applied to the four horns of that altar. The balance of the blood was to be poured out at the base of the brazen altar.
- If it was a ruler who sinned, or the common people, the blood was not to be sprinkled on the golden altar or applied to its horns, but was rather to be applied to the horns of the brazen altar and then poured out at its base.
All of this means that extra care had to be taken that none of the blood was spilled any other place. If even one drop was spilled upon the garment of the priest who was doing the officiating, as stated, his garment had to be washed immediately, and done so in a particular place, i.e., the Holy Place.
As stated, this proclaims the preciousness of the blood and, as well, that it was the shed blood of Christ that brought about our salvation because it represented the poured out life of Christ on the Cross (Eph. 2:13–18).
The Awfulness Of Sin
“But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire” (Lev. 6:28-30).
We learn from this of the awfulness of sin. So desperate a malady is sin that anything that came in contact with the sin offering had to be washed, broken, or scoured.
All these regulations were calculated to express the polluting nature of sin and the translation of guilt from the sinner to the sacrifice. We learn from this, as well, that there are no such things as venial sins (small sins); the least sin deserves death.
The Believer And Sin
This means that if we properly understand sin as we ought to, at the same time, in order to have peace, we, as well, must understand the Cross. Many believers, because of the guilt of condemnation, have been led to a mental and emotional anguish that has robbed them of all peace. In fact, some have even committed suicide under such stress.
If a believer walks after the flesh (Rom. 8:1), such a believer will have a miserable lifestyle because of condemnation. He may confess the opposite and may deny such, but trying to ignore a 3,000-pound elephant in one’s living room takes a stretch of the imagination. In other words, it cannot be done!
The more consecrated a believer is, the more this problem presents itself. Such a believer wants to live right, wants to walk right, and wants to be right, but despite all of his efforts otherwise, finds himself doing wrong, with the wrong continually getting worse. In fact, Chapter 7 of Romans bears this out. It concludes with Paul saying, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).
Regrettably, that’s the exact state in which most of Christendom presently finds itself.
They do not know how to address sin, at least according to the Word of God, which means they don’t know how to have victory over sin.
The Believer And The Cross
The only answer for sin, which is the problem, is the Cross. While many in the church may allude to other things and may claim other things, the truth is, sin is the problem. This is abundantly clear in the teaching given us in the law of the various offerings. Some may claim the problem to be physical, while others claim it to be emotional. Others may claim that it is domestic or material; however, irrespective as to what the problem might be, the root cause in some way is sin. It may be the sin of someone else, or it may be the sin of the individual in question, but the cause - indirect or direct - is sin, and is always sin! That’s the reason it is hopeless and helpless to try to address the problem any other way. That’s the reason that humanistic psychology is such a crock; as well, the same can be said for those who promote this wisdom of the world.
Neither humanistic psychology nor any other effort by man can address itself to the sin question. It is the Cross and the Cross alone that answers this horrible malady of the human race.
Let us say it again: There is no answer for sin but the Cross. If we try something else, we try in vain! If we look to anything else, we look in vain! If we claim anything else, we claim such in vain!
What Is The Church Doing About The Cross?
Now let me ask this question: How is the modern church addressing its problems? The answer to that is obvious. It is looking to anything and everything except the Cross.
Let me give you an example: Concerning the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination, if a preacher has a problem, he can never be accepted in good standing unless he is signed off by a psychologist. This means that there is no faith in the Cross, but rather the frail efforts of pitiful man. To be sure, most every other Pentecostal denomination falls into the same category, at least those of which I am aware.
However, the Holy Spirit is bringing the Message of the Cross into full view of the church to where it has absolutely no choice but to either publicly reject it or accept it. As we’ve said repeatedly, the Cross of Christ is the dividing line between the true church and the apostate church. In fact, it has always been that way; however, the Holy Spirit is making the Cross of Christ, and all for which it stands, so prominent that it can no longer be ignored (I Cor. 1:17–18, 21, 23; 2:2; Eph. 2:13–18; Col. 2:14–15; Gal. 6:14).
Christ And His Sacrifice
The sin offering, whose blood was brought into the sanctuary, symbolized Christ bearing before God the sin of the whole world. The sin offering, the blood of which was not so brought in, but its flesh was eaten by the priests, presents Christ as making His own the sins of the individual sinner who believes upon Him.
The meaning of Verse 30 in Leviticus, Chapter 6, is this: Regarding the sins of priests and of the nation of Israel as a whole, the blood was to be brought into the tabernacle, sprinkled seven times on the golden altar, and, as well, the blood was applied to the four horns. The flesh of this animal, which served as the sin offering, was not to be eaten by the priests, but was to be taken out to a clean place, in fact, where the ashes were taken, and there, burnt in the fire.
If it was a sin offering, which referred to rulers and the common people, the blood then was not taken into the Holy Place, but was rather applied to the four horns of the brazen altar and then poured out at the base. Of the flesh of this particular animal, the priests could partake.
It all had to do with where the blood was applied.
Sins Of Ignorance
This tells us, as should be obvious, that the sins of priests, and of the nation as a whole, constituted that which was more serious. The sins of the nation as a whole were probably carried out because of the sins of the priests, and we speak of sins of ignorance. So, the flesh of such an offering could not be eaten but had to be burned.
As previously stated, it is the same presently with the thousands of preachers who sin ignorantly, thereby, causing the church to sin when they tell people how to live for God but in all the wrong ways. In other words, they are telling them to live for the Lord outside of the boundaries of the Cross, which is sin!
With many of these preachers, it is done through ignorance, but it is still sin, and it will still cause great problems in the body of Christ. The only answer to the dilemma is for the preacher to understand the Cross and then to preach the Cross to his people. This is why Paul said, “We preach Christ crucified” (I Cor. 1:23).
Excerpt from the book "The Sacrificial System" by Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart
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